Church
Our living waters are struggling to breathe
River baptisms are becoming a casualty of polluted waters.
Church vs. injustice, not church vs. state
Ilsup Ahn believes that a different conception of church could have stopped, among other things, housing segregation.
Surviving Hillcrest
Letta Cartlidge created a group for missionary kids who’d attended her boarding school in Jos, Nigeria. The stories of abuse poured in.
Why aren’t people coming back?
A letter to pastors and churchgoers who wonder what happened to the prepandemic church they knew.
What MeToo hasn’t yet accomplished
Social media movements fade. Survivors of sexual assault and harassment need living communities.
How some churches fail to provide a lifeline
Tiffany Brooks offers much more than just another exvangelical anger manual.
December 11, Advent 3A (Matthew 11:2-11)
John the Baptist is not sure if Jesus is very Christlike.
A very long discernment
Luke is in a maximum security prison. He wants to be an Episcopal priest.
Should we avoid liturgical language of light and dark?
While struggling with this question as a church songwriter, I came up with six guidelines.
A clergy mental health crisis
The stress of the past few years has brought many to the breaking point.
The sacred relics of a lifetime of ministry
Marilyn wasn’t sure she could stomach the sight of a truck carting 56 years of her husband’s work to the dump.
The Word made grotesque
If we want our sermons to resemble real life, says Charles Campbell, we might take a hint from carnival.
November 6, Ordinary 32C (Haggai 1:15b-2:9)
My church is located in the first municipality in the country with a public reparations fund.
Is Christian celebrity harmful to the church?
Yes, says Katelyn Beaty, who defines celebrity as “fame’s shinier, slightly obnoxious cousin.”
November 1, All Saints (Ephesians 1:11-23)
On All Saints’ Day I remember those who tried and failed and tried again.
The Presbyterian missionary who became a revolutionary in Iran
“Howard Baskerville believed there was no separation of religion and politics,” says Reza Aslan, “that democracy was a divine gift.”
Persia’s first American missionaries
Justin Perkins and Charlotte Bass suffered multiple losses during their missionary years. Was it worth it?